Schofer v. Hoffman

SLOAN, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. This case is in trover brought by Haimen Schofer, trading as H. Schofer & Sons, against Hugo R. Hoffman and Burton P. Hoffman, his wife, for the conversion by the defendants of an oil heater and water tank which had been installed in the property occupied by them situate in Baltimore County. It was tried before the court sitting as a jury (Rule 9, Part III, Trials by the Court), and from a judgment for the defendants plaintiff appeals. The record shows that replevin would have been the proper form of action, but it was agreed to have the case tried on the' merits, the result to be either a judgment for the plaintiffs for §477.75, or a judgment for defendants.

The heater and tank were not installed on the order of the defendants, who knew nothing about its installation until long after it was done. The defendants had leased the property to Harry F. White and Lillian E. White, his wife, by lease dated February 16, 1940, for the term of six years beginning May 1, 1940, and ending May 1, 1946, at the monthly rental of §325.00, with an option to purchase the property at any time during the term of the lease in consideration of the sum of $1,000.00, which the lessees paid to the lessors, but whether this payment was to be credited on the’ purchase money does not appear. The amount to be paid the record does not disclose, but Mrs. White testified that the monthly rental of $325.00 “included a certain amount on the principal which if we gave up the property would be entirely lost to us.” This arrangement continued until October 2, 1941, when the lease was canceled, and thereafter, until about April 1, 1942, the Whites occupied part of the leased premises at $100.00 per month. On August 14, 1940, the Whites and the plaintiff entered into a conditional sales contract, unrecorded, for the purchase by the Whites arid the installation by the ²⁷³ plaintiff of a Wayne Oil Burner and a Wayne Boiler Burner Unit for $919, of which $100 was paid in cash, the balance to be paid in 36 monthly installments of $22.75 each.

There was owing to the plaintiff, when the Whites vacated the property and stopped paying, $477.75. The original lease, with the option to buy, was canceled October 2, 1941; the Whites paid all installments due to November 3, 1941. There can be no denial on this record that the Whites, when they made this heating contract, regarded themselves as the owners of the property, and the plaintiff so dealt with them. When the Whites leased the property the house was heated by a complete hot-water system.

Mrs. White was not satisfied with it and promptly had a modern single unit oil heater and water tank installed and the old heater and tank removed, Mr. Hoffman said at the trial he thought the old furnace was all right. “The tenants had been there years before without any trouble.” It was in the cellar when the Whites leased and undertook to buy. There is no pretense by the plaintiff or Mrs. White (Mr. White not testifying) that the defendants knew anything about the new heating system for at least fifteen months after it was installed. Hugo R. Hoffman testified that he knew nothing about the oil heater in his house until the Whites were leaving it, and the defendants were, therefore, not on notice of or bound by any of the terms of the agreement between the plaintiff and their vendees (Whites). Homeseekers’ Realty Co. v. Silent Automatic Sales Cory., 163 Md. 541, 544 , 163 A. 841 .

These are the facts upon which